Winter Wonderland

From the Daily News Global

Before I came to England, I was told that it might snow a few times during the year, but probably not until January or February. So, it was definitely a bit of a shock to see all of the white stuff and the cold, cold weather typical of a Michigan winter. All of the snow has definitely been a surprise to the people here and has thrown off most of thetransportation. I went to London last weekend to see the Nutcracker ballet and had some problems with the trains. Parts of the underground were completely shut off and the over ground trains had delays and cancellations as well. London Heathrow Airport was completely closed on Saturday and only yesterday had 70% of the flights running. My parents are leaving tonight to come visit for Christmas holidays, so I'm praying that they still get here with not too many delays.

Near York, from BBC

Anyway, although we had some problems with transportation in London, it was overall a nice day trip. We got to walk through the famous Harrods, which apparently the Queen shops at! It had about 5 floors I think and was coated with designer handbags, evening gowns, couches, tableware-you name it. It kind of felt like you were a celebrity going out shopping. We walked through Trafalgar Square and listened to the carollers. It's really cool being so close to so many cities. It's really easy to just spend a day in London and go home for the night.
I'm excited about Christmas and seeing my parents. Who knows what Father Christmas will bring this year? Probably Father Christmas.
Greater Manchester, from BBC

In a few days time, my family and I will be going to Paris! We're planning on seeing the Eifel Tower, the Lourve, and enjoying the local cafes and restaurants. We are also doing a cycling tour around Paris to see the main attractions. Hopefully the Eurostar will be up and running by the 28th as long as there are no weather issues. We're going to see the fireworks in London and hear the Big Ben strike 12 on New Years Day! My parents are leaving on the 2nd of January and my sister is staying until the 9th. We've booked a city break to Rome and are very excited to see the sites. After that, I have to go back to the books and take my semester 1 exams in mid-January. Exciting times are ahead! I will write about how everything goes in the next blog. Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

Sunset in Dodford, from BBC

Pretty fall tree

It's been almost 3 months now, and I feel like I have already seen so much but at the same time it has gone by really fast. I've been getting more involved with the residence hall government as the environmental co-representative. All of the halls compete for a big party at the end of the year by organizing events and campaigns. Last year, our hall lost by a tiny bit, so we're going to try really hard to win this year. We had environment trivia questions at our Halloween party and we're having a movie night next week with popcorn and soda. It's been fun getting involved in the residence association as well as the carbon control campaign. This year, all of the halls of residence in the University of Manchester have recycled about 10 tons of paper/cardboard since the start of the semester; triple what they did last year!

My classes are going well. It's nice not having so many midterms and homework to worry about, but at the same time, I kind of like having those things to keep me on track with work. I'm not excited about having exams when I get back after Christmas break. I really like how we get to take them before Christmas and can just relax during break at Michigan. But, I suppose this is part of the whole new education system and study abroad experience. We do get a whole month off for Christmas, which I'm not complaining about!University of Manchester

Today, I was walking down the street from north campus (a.k.a. engineering campus, so weird that it's the same at Michigan!) to get to the bus stop and I saw like 10 policemen with big black hats and yellow reflector jackets in the middle of Oxford road (the main road through Manchester Uni)! Following the policemen were a whole crowd of students marching as a protest against higher tuition fees and education cuts. They even had like policemen on horses at the back of the march! At first I was like wow, this is cool! Then, I realized that I would not be catching a bus any time soon as there were masses of people in the middle of Oxford road. So, I got to wait at the bus stop for about 45 min. along with a lot of other students trying to get home/get to class. In the BBC news it said, "In Manchester around 3,000 protesters gathered outside the town hall, disrupting city centre traffic." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11829102


Outside the Student Union on a normal weekday

My trip to Spain!

Park Guell

Most of the students at the University of Manchester had this week off for what they call 'Reading Week.' During this week, some of the students go home for the week, some students still have lectures, some spend the week catching up on missed work, and others go on holiday. My friend Helen, who is also a study abroad student, and I opted for the last option and decided to explore Barcelona. We left cold and cloudy Manchester on Sunday afternoon and had a two hour flight to the Barcelona airport where it was warmer, and there were palm trees outside! We got on the train to Sants Estacio in downtown Barcelona and from there we got on the metro to our hostel. We shared a room with two other people who were from Minnesota. The next day and Tuesday we toured the city of Barcelona on a hop on/hop off bus.
Sagrada Familia

My favorite sites were the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and Casa Batllo-all of which are works of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. Casa Batllo is a house that Gaudi designed for a family in Barcelona. We liked it because it was really colorful and had cool, curvy designs for windows, staircases, doors, etc. On the outside, there were beautiful mosaic tiles on the front facade, back garden and roof. When we visited Park Guell, I felt like I was in Candy Land! It had swirly roof tops and amazing tile work. Also, when we walked to the top of the park, we could see the entire city and the Mediterranean Sea. The Sagrada Familia was breathtaking as well. It was Gaudi's dream and he never finished it; in fact, it's still under construction right now. The inside of the church is meant to look like a forest and the tall ceilings, columns and windows add to that effect. Much of Gaudi's work was inspired by nature.

Along with seeing Gaudi's famous works, we got to tour most of the city of Barcelona. We took a 'teleferic' (which means cable car in Spanish)up to a cool castle right along the Sea. We saw the Barcelona football club stadium and the house where the Royal Spanish family used to live. It was fun to try traditional Spanish food as well, like paella, sangria, and tapas. The hostel took us to a fun bar and club in Barcelona and we walked along Las Ramblas a few times, where they have lots of shops and street performers. All in all, I really enjoyed Barcelona and hope to go back again one day. It was a great first European trip and I'm excited to do more travelling in the future!!!

Manchester!!!

Photo of my hall. I live in one of the rooms on top.

Hello! I have now started classes, so I finally have some structure to my schedule. I am taking Solid Fluid Systems, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Catalytic Reaction Engineering, and Religion and Evolution, which is an interesting mix, but I like the variety of subjects. My Catalytic Reactions class is a 3rd year course, which is the final year for most students here, so needless to say, it has been requiring the most work. Fortunately though, I have a great professor who has been helping me get settled in!

Outside a church in Cambridge

I am getting more acquainted with the city of Manchester as well, which has been an experience in itself. The curry mile has tons of great Indian restaurants and I've had the pleasure of sampling a couple already. The city center has a huge shopping center, many clubs, restaurants, pubs, and cafes. I know the bus route pretty well now as well and have a bus pass, which makes getting on the bus much less stressful.

I haven't officially joined any clubs or societies yet, but I went to a pilates class with some of the people on my floor and I was elected Environmental Representative for the JCR committee in my hall, which is like a student government. I am excited to get involved in the hall activities this year. I have made many new friends and they have all been helpful in my process of settling in. I've picked up on
some interesting phrases so far. Many people will say 'tea' instead of
dinner, 'knock on' instead of 'knock on your door' (maybe that's not that interesting, but it's kind of weird), 'quid' for pound (I've heard it before, but it's popular here), 'fit' instead of attractive or hot (in extreme cases 'well fit' can be used), 'pop in' instead of stop by, and 'queue' for line (like waiting in line). That's all I can remember right now anyway. By the next post, fall should be in full swing and the trees will be changing colors. Can't wait!

Caterpillar cake-commonly used for birthdays!

Tea and Scones?

I've been in England for over three weeks now and there is so much to share. The airport and train station in London were extremely busy, as would be expected in any big city. The underground was similar to the subway in New York City. The first huge differences I noticed when I walked outside were the narrow roads, teeny-sized cars, and of course everyone driving on the left side of the road. Many people will walk or ride their bike to the train station when traveling to their destination. There is a much smaller reliance on cars, which is very different to the U.S.

Main attractions I've been to so far in London include the Tower of London, Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the House of the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and St. Paul's Cathedral. I have had two meals of fish and chips, which were both amazing, afternoon tea, a roast dinner, and a traditional English breakfast. The English breakfast is kind of strange to me. It consists of eggs, toast, potatoes, which are normal for a U.S. breakfast. But they also serve baked beans, fried bacon (but it's different to our kind), big, fried sausages, cooked tomatoes, fried mushrooms. The dining hall where I live has served a simplified version of this everyday so far for breakfast!

Manchester is a really nice city. It's difficult going to school in a big city because all of the buildings seem far apart from each other and it's easy to get lost. I've gotten used taking the city bus everyday to get to the University. It costs 80P for the shortest distance and as much as £2.10 if you are far away from my hall. The bus drives through the "Curry Mile" on the way to University, which consists of many, many Indian restaurants, Indian dress and jewelry shops, and a few grocery stores. Some interesting facts I learned about the city are that Rutherford split the atom in the University of Manchester, the first computer 'Baby' was made in Manchester, and the Industrial Revolution played a huge role in the growth of the city. I haven't actually started classes yet, as this week is mostly for first-year students learning about their course for the next 3-4 years. Most of the information doesn't apply to the study abroad students. I should start classes sometime next week. Until my next post - Cheers!

Goodbye America. Hello England!

Hello,

Wednesday is the big day, so I thought I would give you an update about how everything is going. I recently received my visa in the mail, along with a few non-important things like my birth certificate and my passport. Needless to say, it was somewhat of a relief. I got some currency exchanged, so now I actually have British pounds-exciting! I think it's going to be difficult working with a new currency along with a new scale for temperature.

My packing is going alright. I am bringing two suitcases. One is already packed (and is extremely heavy) and the other one is mostly packed, just need to put a few more things in there. Once I get to England, I'm planning on visiting some friends for the first couple weeks before I get to Manchester.

I have orientation on the 16th of September and that's the day when I'm moving in to Ashburne Hall. It's on the Fallowfield portion of the campus, which is about 15 minutes away from the main bit of campus by bus. Fallowfield reminds me of North Campus at the University of Michigan. It's kind of further away from Central Campus, but is nice because it has more trees and the rooms in the dorms are a little bigger. I have a single room, which is fantastic. I've had to live with roommates since freshman year, so I'm really looking forward to having a room of my own. I will still be sharing a bathroom with some other people, but it will be so nice to have my own room. That's it for now, my next post will be written once I'm actually there!!! Yay!

Hi!

Hello, My name is Erica Tiedeman and I am a Junior at the University of Michigan studying Chemical Engineering. I will be attending the University of Manchester through an IPE (International Programs in Engineering) study abroad program starting this September through June 2011. The University of Manchester is in Manchester, UK and is Britain's largest single-site university, according to it's website.


While I am there, I will hopefully be taking chemical engineering classes for the most part, as well as some history and material science courses. However, I still don't know what specific classes I will be taking. My program requires a minimum of 15 hours of study each week. Along with studying and taking classes, I would like to do a bit of traveling around Europe on weekends and holidays. I have never been out of the country besides Canada and a few countries in Central America and the Caribbean.

In preparation for my trip, I am currently working on my visa application and buying a few things like a converter, and adapters. I'm sure that in August I will be busier with packing my things. My next blog will be posted about a week before I leave and I'm sure I will have a lot of questions and anxiety in packing my suitcases for 10 months. I'm so excited already!